Philadelphia Eagles schedule leak shows team will host Falcons to kick off 2018 season

Despite the early rumors about hosting the Minnesota Vikings, it turns out the Philadelphia Eagles will host the Atlanta Falcons to kick off the 2018 NFL season.

While all of the hype next week will surround the NFL Draft, football fans are excited about Thursday’s release of the schedule for the 2018 season, especially when it comes to Philadelphia Eagles fans. At first, there were rumors swirling about how football fans would get to see a rematch of the NFC Championship with the Eagles facing off against the Minnesota Vikings, but it looks like that will no longer be the case.

Despite Philadelphia having their way against Minnesota in that game, the circumstances were going to be much different this time around since Kirk Cousins would be part of the picture. Over the years, the Eagles have obviously become quite familiar with Cousins from seeing him twice a year as a member of the Washington Redskins, but joining the Vikings is going to be a completely different ball game when looking at the upgraded offense the quarterback will get to work with.

However, it looks like Philadelphia fans will have to wait until later in the year to see this exciting NFC Championship rematch after the news broke early on before the official release how they would see a different opponent. Instead of a playoff matchup against the Vikings to kick off the new season, and celebrate their Super Bowl victory, it looks like the Eagles will be hosting the Atlanta Falcons instead.

As much as Philadelphia fans wanted to host Cousins in prime time, let’s not forget how close Atlanta was to defeating the eventual champions in the Divisional Round after Julio Jones just missed what could have been the game-winning touchdown catch late in the fourth quarter. Not only will the Falcons be seeking revenge for the outcome of that game, but also keep in mind this team arguably still has their epic Super Bowl loss to the New England Patriots from 2017 in the back of their minds as well.

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In other words, the motivation will certainly be there for Matt Ryan and company to ruin Philadelphia’s night of celebrating their first Super Bowl title in franchise history. Either way, at least the release of the schedule means the Eagles are another step closer from getting their 2018 season underway, as these next few months will hopefully fly by fast.